Tuesday, February 26, 2008

"I believe the narrative form is very very tired." George Steiner soundbit by The Guardian. "Me pap!" cries a litblogger in response. Such is the future of criticism. Of course, Steiner has been saying such things for many years. Like the Austrian author he introduced to an English-speaking audience in 1975, he's a master of necessary exaggeration. All that's left now is the search for a narrative of exhaustion. Another one.

For help, see this three-part interview with WG Sebald posted at Vertigo: "The art really is in isolating yourself and letting as few things into your head as possible." So then, back to blogging.

Monday, February 11, 2008

As some of you will have read at RSB, I've been unable to post here for a while. Many thanks to those of you who have sent messages of support. I hope to be back to something approaching normal within a fortnight, although what I write then might not be quite the same as before. If so, the head injury might not be entirely bad.

As I spent two weeks in hospital without much contact with the world, let alone internet access, I'm not sure if this has been mentioned elsewhere, but I've just noticed Cambridge University Press is, at last, due to publish The Letters of Samuel Beckett: Volume 1, 1929–1940 later this year. Great news!